Paper Mario: The Curse Of The Shadow Stars
by Shadow Star X
Summary: Mario travels to the fabled Cherry Kingdom to recover the Moon Stars and battle the Shadow Stars and a powerful sorcerer


The Darkness Saga

Begining of the End

Chapter One

I went into the bathroom to take some caffein pills. I was so tired. My body begged me to sink into the luxury of my king-sized bed. _So much space. Just waiting to swallow my body into comfort. _I thought to myself.

"But I can't go to sleep!" I said aloud. I absolutely, positivly could not go to sleep.

I haven't touched my bed in three days. My mom and dad have been constantly pondering over the question of "Why won't he go sleep?"

"We're going to get you some help." my dad finally said to me.

"No! You know how I am about therapists." my mom said worriedly

"Well we have to do something," my dad said, "maybe we should cut back on horror movies. Each one he see's is scarier then the last. And I suppose it's no surprise that he'd get scared sometimes."

"You're right, dad. Of all the movies I've seen, mexican horror movies are the scariest. I guess it scared me more then I thought, but Im fine now." I assured my parents.

"Are you sure, Joey?"

"Yes. It was just the movie that got to me. Don't worry. I'll be fine." I said and gently pushed them both out of my room and closed the door.

I hesitantly sat on my bed, but I didn't lay down. The truth was though, I wasn't okay. For starters, I stole a book from a store, and then I used that same book to release a terrible magic upon the world. I know it sounds crazy and you probally don't believe me right? Well if you'd just give me a chance I'll explain.

It started two days ago...

Chapter Two

"Just my luck! It's raining!" I complained.

"And I have to walk five blocks to reach the bus stop. I'd better get a move on."

I headed out the door, only to imediatley get my hair, clothes, and backpack drenched. It was too bad my parents car broke down and they wouldn't get it fixed until tommorow. At first I thought I'd simply wait for the shower to subside, but I didn't know how long that would take. So I pulled the hood of my sweater over my head and walked down the steps of school for the dreadful journey home.

"At least Im not alone." I said to myself. I looked behind and noticed at least two other students walking in the opposite direction.

I continued walking for what seemed like forever, when I finally reached the bus stop. I was going to get on the bus when I caught sight of a building on my right. I looked up at the sign that read: Paranormal Bookstore. knew I should've gotten on the bus like I was supposed to, but I just had to check this new store out.

I opened the rather heavy door and walked inside. Soon, I found myself surrounded by wide bookshelves full of books just waiting to be opened. The wide range of books were all seperated into categories such as horror, mystery, sci-fi, etc.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I had seen no sign of an employee or a manager since I'd set foot in the store, but seeing as the bookstore was still very much oprn, I walked over to the Horror section.

I stood in front of the tall bookcase of horror books. I reached for a black book on the third shelf and read aloud, "The Demon Within." I could tell already that this was my home away from home. I saw hundreds of good books on this one bookcase, such as Devil Hiding In My Wake, The Vampire Alchemist, My Gothic Conscience, The House of Hell, Pendulum of the devil, and many more.

I saw this one book in the very middle that looked different from the rest. I pulled the book out and tried to open it but the pages were stuck. I looked on the cover and read "Glued Book."

"Is this some kind of joke?" I asked myself.

"Who would make a book with pages that are glued together? And who would be stupid enough to sell one in their store?" at first I didn't realize it, but after I took the book out the entire bookshelf rotated clockwise.

I found myself in a completely different room then the one I was just in. The room appeared to be a small circular shaped dome with a small podium resting in the middle.. I saw a black book with a red frame sitting on a blue cloth on the podium. It was encased in glass. I walked over to take it out when I heard a voice calling to me.

"How did you get in here boy?" the voice said. I turned around to see a man who looked about 40-45 years old with short brown hair and a pale face.

"I asked you a question young man. How did you get in here?" he asked again. He didn't seem angry by my presence.

"Oh, I just pulled out a book from that shelf behind me and then the next thing I knew, I was here." I told him. The man stared at me for a moment and then sighed heavily.

"It's alright, I suppose. You were drawn to this room by this book weren't you?" he said and pointed to the book that was sitting on the podium.

"Um, no. I already told you why Im here. I pulled out the...Glued Book and then the bookshelf just rotated me to the other side. What is that anyway?" I asked, pointing to the book that was sitting on the silver podium.

"This book has many names young man. Some people call it the Bringer of Destruction, others called it the Arrow of Avallon, but the most common name for this destructive force is the Emisarry of Chaos." I looked at the man like he was crazy.

"...Um...That's nice. Well...I really gotta get going so could you just show me the way out?"

"You beleive I speak the truth, no?" the man asked.

"With all due respect I think you're a lunatic. Now please could you show me how to get outta here?" I said in a rather irritable voice.

"I can see that you believe what I tell you is the truth. Am I right?" the man asked with a penetrating look in his eye's. It was as though he were looking right through me.

"Well...You can't say anything isn't true until it's been proven. At least that's my policy." I told him, "So let's hear your story."

"Very well. Apart from owning this bookstore, I used to be an archeologist. About a year ago, my team and I were on an excavation in Cuba. We were studying the Aztecs and the Mayans and were traveling all of Latin America. While we were in Cuba we dug up two strange artifacts." the man pointed to another podium I didn't even notice sitting next to the one with the book. A gold cross was resting on the podium in a glass case just like the book.

"Was that there before?" I asked.

"The last time I checked it was." he told me.

"Oh. You were saying?"

"The book you see here is the Emissary of Chaos or whatever you will call it. The gold cross-shaped figure is simply called, The Key. The two objects didn't seem to have any history relating to the Mayans or the Aztecs, and we couldn't find anything about them in the library. We searched all of South America for clues leading to the origins of our two artifacts. At first we weren't very successful, but then we found a book about myths in this one shop. It said that hundreds of years ago, a group of seven powerful demons and their subordinates wreaked havoc throughout the planet. Five equally powerful old sages fought against the demons and defeated them. They couldn't destroy the demons however, so they trapped the demons within a book. As time passed, people who sought power learned of this book and released the demons so that they could deal great ammounts of damage to the world once again. The desendants of the five sages fought and defeated the demons as did their ancestors. Eventually it came to a point to where those same desendants chose to create a key of some sort so that people with bad intentions could not release the demons again. It was then that the book became known as one of many titles, The Emissary of Chaos, for the destruction it would bring when it was open. The key and the book were then scattered throughout the world, away from harm. The key only existed for the safety of the world, should someone find the book, they wouldn't know how to open it. This is why I found it strange when we found both of the artifacts together because it mentions in the book that they were scattered through the world in two different directions."

"So then why do you have them?" I asked anxiously, not realizing what time it was.

"Believe it or not, there are still people who seek to release the deadly force within this book, and for some strange reason I feel obliged to protect it."

"That's some story. Now could you show me the way out?" I asked eagerly, finally coming back to my sense's and realizing it was way past the time that Im supposed to be home.

"The same way you got in." he said and gestured for me to turn around. I did and right there was the "Glued Book" sitting on the middle shelf.

"That wasn't there before!" I said quickly as though scared.

"There is the way out." he said, ignoring my statement. I slowly walked to the bookshelf and grabbed the book that rotated the bookshelf to the supposedly normal bookshop. I quickly walked out the door and headed home.

"That place really is paranormal..."

Chapter Three

"You're late." my dad said as I walked into the door.

"I can explain." I said automatically while I took my shoe's off in front of the shoe rack.

"Well? Im listening."

"On my way home I came across this new bookstore-" I started.

"And you wanted to check it out, right?" my dad said for me.

"You know me too well, dad."

"It's my job, Joey. Your mom won't be back from her trip until tommorow and since Im a louzy cook, Im gonna order us pizza. Anything special you want?"

"You pick. I gotta get started on my homework.." I told him and walked upstairs to my room. I figured I was off the hook this time, but next time I might not be so lucky when I get home this late again.

If it weren't for that strange man in the bookstore, maybe I wouldnt've been so late.. I still wonder if what he told me was the truth.

"I highly doubt it." I told myself and just assumed he was a little drunk or something like that.

Later that night my dad and I had fried rice, egg rolls, sugar cane liquor and a fortune cookie for dessert. i then finished whatever homework I had left and went to bed. I couldn't get to sleep because of that ridiculous story that crazy man told me. I even started dreamin about it when I had finally just gotten to sleep.. I couldn't get to sleep for the rest of the night so I just stared at the ceiling until my alarm clock went off.

The next day in school I kept thinking about the strange man. I could barely concentrate in history, or the test we were taking.

"Mr. Summers perhaps you could begin to look at your test instead of daydreaming?" Mr. Lupensmoothie scolded me.

"Sorry Mr. Lupensmoothie." everyone laughed.

The next class was spanish. And we also had a spanish test. I didn't ace that or the history test all because of the strange man and his stories that've locked themselves in my head.

When school was finally out I was going to go home but instead I walked into the bookstore. I didn't know why, but I did. The owner was in a room across from me. He was on the phone and didn't seem to hear me come in. I quietly walked over to the horror section and grabbed the Glued Book that rotated the bookshelf and myself to the dome shaped room. I started to walk towards the silver podium in the center of the room, but I suddenly stopped at the second step.

"There's no reason to do this is there," I asked myself, "I've already told myself that I don't believe in a silly story about demons destroying the Earth. But...I guess I just have to do this." I told myself, remembering my policy.

You can't say anything isn't true until it's been proven.

I hesitantly walked to the silver podium and slowly removed the glass case.

"Hmph. It looks just like an ordinary book." I assured myself. I turned the book around and saw a large cross shaped dent in it.

"Okay. Besides the fact that this book has a cross shaped dent in the back, it looks mostly like a normal book." I said to myself.

That's when I realized that the old man mentioned a key in the form of a golden cross. I looked over to see another silver podium with the key resting in it.

"I guess I'll take this piece of trash too." I said to myself and picked up the key and quietly tucked them both in my backpack.


End file.
